Department of Defense @DeptofDefense wrote: Seize and secure.
More than 2,000 AK-47 assault rifles are inventoried on the flight deck of the @USNavy guided-missile destroyer USS The Sullivans after being seized from a fishing vessel transiting along a maritime route from Iran to Yemen.
Medyen Seid @SeidMedyen wrote: The country that`s arming Saudi with F-35s and guided missiles condemning the delivery of AK-47s to Yemen! Hypocrisy: upgraded.
Drone attack targets Iranian defence factory as global tensions rise
Isfahan blast came as refinery fire broke out in country’s north-west and 5.9-magnitude quake hit
Associated Press
Sun 29 Jan 2023 10.45 GMT
Bomb-carrying drones targeted an Iranian defence factory in the central city of Isfahan overnight, authorities have said, causing damage at the plant amid heightened regional and international tensions engulfing the Islamic Republic.
The Iranian defence ministry offered no information on who it suspected carried out the attack, which came as a refinery fire separately broke out in the country’s north-west and a 5.9-magnitude earthquake struck nearby, killing three people.
Tehran has been targeted by suspected Israeli drone strikes amid a shadow war with its Middle Eastern rival as its nuclear deal with world powers collapsed. Meanwhile, tensions remain high with neighbouring Azerbaijan after a gunman attacked that country’s embassy in Tehran, killing its security chief and wounding two others.
Details on the Isfahan attack, which happened at about 11.30pm on Saturday, remained scarce. A defence ministry statement described three drones being launched at the facility, with two of them successfully shot down. A third apparently struck the building, causing “minor damage” to its roof and wounding no one, the ministry said.
Iranian state television’s English-language arm, Press TV, aired mobile phone video apparently showing the moment the drone struck along the busy Imam Khomeini expressway that heads north-west out of Isfahan, one of several routes to the holy city of Qom and Tehran, Iran’s capital. A small crowd gathered, drawn by anti-aircraft fire, watching as an explosion and sparks struck a dark building.
“Oh my God! That was a drone, wasn’t it?” the man filming shouts. “Yeah, it was a drone.” The bystanders fled after the attack.
That footage of the strike, as well as footage of the aftermath analyzed by the Associated Press, corresponded to a site on Minoo Street in north-western Isfahan near a shopping centre.
Iranian defence and nuclear sites increasingly find themselves surrounded by commercial properties and residential neighbourhoods as the country’s cities expand. Some locations remain opaque about what they produce, with only a sign bearing a defence ministry or paramilitary Revolutionary Guard logo.
The defence ministry described the site as a “workshop” without elaborating on what it made. Isfahan, 215 miles south of Tehran, is home to both a large airbase built for its fleet of American-made F-14 fighter jets and its nuclear fuel research and production centre.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/ ... ry-reports
On the evening of 15 January 2024, Fateh ballistic missiles were launched in what were believed to have been fired from inside Iranian territory towards the city of Erbil, northern Iraq, the capital of the Kurdistan Region.[2] The attack resulted in four deaths and six injuries. The attack targeted the US consulate which was under construction and alleged Mossad spy headquarters.[3]
Attack
A U.S. official said that the attacks did not succeed in targeting anything and did not result in casualties. The attack led to the death of businessman Peshraw Dizayee, the CEO of Empire World, a real estate development company.[1] The attack also led to Erbil International Airport being temporarily closed. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) quickly took responsibility.[4] In addition, coalition forces had shot down three drones near the airport.[5]
The attack occurred at a time when calls were increasing for the departure of U.S. forces from the region.[6]
Response
An Iraqi government source said that it was not informed in advance of the attack and that an emergency meeting will be held tomorrow. He described the attack as a flagrant violation of the Iranian-Iraqi agreement. Moreover, the Kurdistan region called on the Iraqi government and the international community not to remain silent regarding the Iranian attack on Erbil.[7]
The IRGC said that the attack was a response to the Israeli assassination of "resistance elements".
Iran strikes ‘militant bases’ in Pakistan in latest Middle East flashpoint
Pakistan says attacks killed two children in ‘unprovoked violation’ of its airspace, adding to regional instability sparked by Israel-Gaza war
Julian Borger in Washington
Wed 17 Jan 2024 02.23 CET
Iran has launched airstrikes on Pakistan territory, apparently aimed at a Sunni militant group, in the latest sign of a wave of violence rolling across the Middle East and beyond.
Pakistan’s foreign ministry said two children were killed and three others were injured in what it called an “illegal” airstrike, and summoned Tehran’s senior diplomat in Islamabad to protest against the “unprovoked violation of its airspace”. The ministry did not give more details of the strikes, but Pakistani social media accounts said missile and drone strikes had been aimed at the Balochistan province which lies along the 1,000km border between the two countries.
In Iran, it was reported that the strikes were aimed at bases of a Sunni militant group, Jaish al-Adl, but references to the attack in Iranian media quickly disappeared. Iran and Pakistan have long had a tense relationship, in large part because of the activities of Balochi separatists and other militant groups in the border area. However, this would mark a significant escalation on the territory of its nuclear-armed neighbour.
The strikes in Pakistan came less than a day after Iranian missile strikes in Syria and Iraq, part of a string of reprisals against Tehran’s enemies in the wake of a double suicide bombing in the city of Kerman on 3 January which killed more than 80 Iranians. Islamic State (IS) claimed responsibility for that attack. Is it unclear whether Tehran believes Jaish al-Adl is also involved, or it was just lashing out against foes to satisfy domestic calls for vengeance.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/ ... n-pakistan
Pakistan launches retaliatory airstrikes on Iran after Tehran attack
JANUARY 18, 20241:22 AM ET
By The Associated Press
ISLAMABAD — Pakistan's air force launched retaliatory airstrikes early Thursday in Iran allegedly targeting militant hideouts, an attack that killed at least seven people and further raised tensions between the neighboring nations.
The strikes in Sistan and Baluchestan province followed Iran's attack Tuesday on Pakistani soil that killed two children in the southwestern Baluchistan province. The attacks Tuesday and Thursday appeared to target separate Baluch militant groups that the two countries have alleged find safe havens in the other.
https://www.npr.org/2024/01/18/12253059 ... rikes-iran
U.S. officials have said they are bracing for a response to an Israeli strike in Syria this month that killed several senior Iranian commanders.
President Biden has warned that Iran was threatening a ‘significant’ attack.
Israel announces a new operation against Hamas, a day after killing a top leader’s sons.
Biden says Israel has improved the aid flow to Gaza but must do more.
Hamas does not have 40 hostages who meet the terms of a potential swap with Israel, an official says.
The U.S. is moving more troops to the Middle East to prepare for an attack by Iran on Israeli or western interests that could come very soon and without warning, two senior officials said Friday.
Iran's leaders have vowed to attack Israel after an airstrike in Damascus on the Iranian embassy compound killed seven Iranians. Iran blames Israel for the attack, while Israel has not acknowledged publicly whether it conducted it. Israeli leaders, however, have warned that they will respond to any military action by Iran.
Army Gen. Erik Kurilla, the commander of U.S. Central Command, has been in Israel conferring with officials there about a potential attack, according to the Defense official.
On Thursday, the State Department issued a security alert for U.S. government employees in Israel. The security alert noted that incidents can take place without warning and "can change quickly depending on the political situation and recent events." Employees and their families have been restricted from personal travel outside major metropolitan areas in Israel.
Also Thursday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken called his counterparts in China, Saudi Arabia and Turkey, asking other countries to "urge Iran not to escalate,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said.
At the Pentagon, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin conferred by phone with Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. Austin pledged that the United States would give its full "support to defend Israel against Iranian attacks," according to a readout of the call.
The Recount @therecount wrote: Reporter: "How imminent do you think an attack on Israel is from Iran?"
President Biden: "I don't want to give secure information, but my expectation is sooner than later."
Reporter: "What is your message to Iran in this moment?"
Biden: "Don't."
and their target is Tel Aviv.raison de arizona wrote: ↑Fri Apr 12, 2024 3:19 pmThe Recount @therecount wrote: Reporter: "How imminent do you think an attack on Israel is from Iran?"
President Biden: "I don't want to give secure information, but my expectation is sooner than later."
Reporter: "What is your message to Iran in this moment?"
Biden: "Don't."
In a statement in response to Iran's seizure of a cargo ship it said was Israeli, Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz claimed it was a Portuguese civilian cargo ship, belonging to an EU member.
Katz called Iran's seizing of the cargo ship "a pirate operation in violation of international law". He also called Iran's "Ayatollah regime" a "criminal regime".
"The Ayatollah regime of @khameneiir is a criminal regime that supports Hamas' crimes and is now conducting a pirate operation in violation of international law. I call on the European Union and the free world to immediately declare the Iranian Revolutionary Guards corps as a terrorist organization and to sanction Iran now," Katz said in a statement.
